Ontario town seeks judicial review after being fined $15K for refusing to observe Pride Month
CTV
An Ontario community fined $15,000 for not celebrating Pride Month is asking a judge to review the decision.
An Ontario community fined $15,000 for not celebrating Pride Month is asking a judge to review the decision.
Emo, Ont., located 200 kilometres southeast of Kenora, announced Thursday it was seeking a judicial review of a decision by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario made last month.
The community was ordered to pay $10,000, and Mayor Harold McQuaker was ordered to pay $5,000 to Borderland Pride, who filed the initial complaint following a meeting in 2020.
Borderline Pride was asking for Emo, which has a population of approximately 1,300, to declare June Pride Month and fly or display an LGBTQ2S+ flag for a week during June.
The town council voted down a resolution 3-2.
Shortly after the vote, Mayor McQuaker, who voted against the proclamation, said, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin…there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”
The comment was called "demeaning and disparaging" of the LGBTQ2S+ community in the tribunal’s report, and it was considered discrimination.
